Photo: Courtesy of Bart
After a long and not quite so hot and balmy summer, our eldest two start back at school again today and the youngest starts in reception on Monday (eek!). At 9pm last night, there was a plaintive voice from the bedroom…’Mum I can’t remember if I should have done any homework or not and it’s making me anxious! She’s eight.
I hadn’t even thought about homework until she’d mentioned it, and I so felt for her. To me, their young childhood is all about playing, exploring & discovering. Not spending time on a Sunday or after school struggling to work on schoolwork. In some countries, children don’t even start school before the age of 7 and they catch up just fine. So why are we all putting this pressure on our kids?
BUT then I think again. When they’re doing their homework (currently 5 spellings and ‘a bit of maths’), we’re discussing it with them, all sorts of questions are asked and all sorts of conversations are had. If they get stuck, we encourage and teach them. In doing this we’re directly facilitating their learning and their sense of being supported. As we all know, it’s so much easier to put more into what we find easy, and brush what we find more difficult under the carpet. Spending this time with them and observing where they’ve got to, helps us to help them sooner rather than later.
These little guys are our children and it’s our job to parent them and to help them grow and develop to the best of our ability. It’s our job to support the teachers in their quest to educate our children. By working with our kids on their homework, areas of difficulty will be overcome more quickly, both teams will be aware of what extra support might be needed and our kids can only benefit and move forward as a result.
So, I’m both pro and against it seems…
As I have no influence over whether or not our kids have homework, I’ve decided to make the best of it and to look at it positively. I see it as an early warning system for the kind of play our kids would benefit from. Our daughter finds maths very difficult so I tried to come up with something that would spark her interest: For Kids Who Hate Maths. Our son detests writing, so we worked away at these: Help Your Kids To Enjoy Creative Writing & Inspiring Your Child To Write. If they didn’t have homework, I probably wouldn’t realise how they were really getting on until much later.
It also gives the kids another chance to practise their writing, their creative thinking, their counting, their short & long term memory, their motor skills. With practise, things become easier. Not all homework facilitations has to be done at the kitchen table either. If you can see your child is struggling with something in particular, you can devise a way for them to practise it, in play, outside of homework and school. You insight is a valuable tool.
Obviously timing is key; there’s no point sitting them down to do their homework straight after school or when they’re hungry. We find it works well to give them a limited choice of when they’ll do it. At least then they partially buy in to it that way.
I do think there should be a balance and not too much! A handful of spellings, some reading, or some maths, fine. To give them a bit of everything and expect them to spend and hour or two at it over the weekend of after school, I’m less happy with. Children need to be able to stretch their wings and their minds in the own ways, and at their own pace when they are young. I do think it’s wrong to claim too much of their waking hours for formal learning. I don’t think ultimately that’s the way forward. Minds need time to rest and explore.
I don’t know if every primary school in the country has homework? What do you think about it? Do your children benefit from it in any way, or do you think we should all be pushing for homework to be obliterated from Primary Schools?
#parentingdilemma
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You may also like to see other posts on Parenting including:
Talking About The Birds And The Bees
Why Being An Imperfect Parent Is A Good Thing
Delay Starting School For A year Or Not?
For Kids Who Hate Maths
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Great post, my son is 5 and in class one, he is expected to read at home 4 times a week, learn spellings at home every week and there’s additional homework too if we want but it’s optional. My hubby and I both work full time and he goes to breakfast and after school clubs. He’s lucky if he gets one reading session and a practice at his spellings. I do worry he’s not doing enough compared to other kids and will fall behind. But then I re,I don’t myself he’s only 5!! X
He is only 5 and in some countries they don’t even start school until they’re 7. Homework does cause a certain amount of guilt and life really is so busy. I try and pick them up on stuff they find hard through play. Weekends is when we do homework, I can’t fit another thing in in the week!
As a teacher, I think that some homework is necessary. However there is a huge difference between a little reading and math than overloading children so that they become anxious and worried! Parents already have so little time with their children after work and chores, then homework gets added to the mix and there goes more family time. Its a difficult topic but one that should be looked at! Great post! #brillblogposts
Yes you’re so right – and some kids can cope with more than others before the worry button starts being pressed. There is so little time in the week as you say – we tend to do homework at the weekend but it does take up quite a big chunk of time still – most of it spent coaxing the 7 year old to even start!
Really thought provoking post. I was a Secondary school teacher and I was sort of against homework, even for the older kids – I think a lot more research is needed as to how effective doing homework really is; it makes us feel like we’re doing something but is it helping kids achieve? There is the anxiety that goes with it and the things it takes kids away from doing to consider, not to mention extra workload for teachers, who could use that time planning and resourcing lessons. I always felt homework was a thing we had to do, not a thing that helped me learn – maybe I was always given rubbish homeworks! However, it happens and I think Primaries should introduce the process and expectations, as long as there isn’t great pressure on it and it doesn’t become a substitute for stuff that should happen in the classroom.
I agree, and the stress is causes our middle son, who’s only 7… I think children need to play and experiment and MOVE! The vast majority of our school learning in the country is static and I think that can be a problem in itself. Then to add homework which again forces you to be stationary when you get home… so many children are kinetic learners and I think we need to recognise and embrace that more in this country.
Such a loaded topic. There were times when my eldest was in reception class I thought she was getting too much homework. Expecting a four year old to do numeracy and literacy in the same session is a bit much in my eyes. Generally speaking the expectations have been realistic though. My main challenge is getting the toddler out the way s I can concentrate on doing homework with the eldest. #BrilliantBlogPosts
Actually you make a very good point John – I think half the hassle of it is having the youngest around who wants to go and do other things. I think it might be more stressful for him and me than the bigger kids!
LOL @ being for and against! I am definitely for…I don’t meant pages and pages of meaningless tasks but like you say, at this point it’s a great way of ironing out any kinks and seeing where their strengths and weaknesses lie. I also go that little bit further and do little quizzes on trivia such as capital cities etc as we have a 20 min drive to and from school plus mini bits of languages! Great blog and I have bookmarked For Kids who Hate Maths! #BrilliantBlogposts
Oooh I like the idea of trivia quizzes – they would help me too! Kids always love doing something that’s a bit different and delivered in a fun way! I’d love to publish a guest post on your trivia quizzes if you fancy writing one??
My kids get homework every week at their primary school. When my son first started, I spoke to the teacher about my concerns of starting homework at such a young age, and they said that the school felt it was important specifically to encourage parents to get involved in their children’s learning. Since then I have had a similar attitude to you; can see that it is useful, but still don’t want the kids to feel under too much pressure, or spend the entire weekend nagging them! #BrilliantBlogPosts
Yes you’re exactly right – it’s the pressure they feel that’s so hard to see at this age. x
Fab post and I see where you are coming from. I’m not dead against homework for primary school kids but it depends on the kind of homework. I think teachers could be more creative with homework particularly over the summer when there is time. So instead of formal homework, I think at primary school they should give fun little projects that facilitate learning but are fun to do. Simple things like making something to bring back after the holidays – stuff like that.
Yes you’re absolutely right. The kids would enjoy it far more and they would be learning without really realising it. Well, mostly anyway!
good post ,<3
Thank you Lina x